Elimination Week Recap

Table of Contents

The twelve winners of last week’s Qualification Tournaments met with the Spring Finals competitors to determine which of those sixteen players would join Surgical Goblin and Nemsensei in the European Fall CCGS Season. Only half of these players would make it through today, the stakes are higher than they’ve ever been.

Group A

Group B

Group C

Group D

1

Donkey Kong

1

-Adam

1

Berin

1

Royal

2

$Tin$

2

HugoBP

2

Doberman

2

iSlaw

3

gr

3

loupanji

3

gabrio

3

Loay

4

Stan

4

Juan

4

Soking

4

Matt_01

Each group would play a Swiss style tournament, with the top 2 players advancing from each group.

GROUP A

In the opening round of play, Donkey Kong (#3 in Spring Season) dropped the first game to $Tin$. Changing to his Three Musketeers list for games 2 and 3, he staved off an early upset to advance. Against Stan in the Finals, an epic Game 1 showed the challenger why DK is a monster player. He recovered from an early exchange to slowly grind his opponent’s tower into dust with unreal defense against Stan’s Miner-Poison.

A more decisive 2nd game ended in a 3-crown victory, secured Donkey Kong’s return to Fall Season! His winning Three Musketeers list resembles the builds we saw last week during Qualification week:

With 1 spot left, from Group A, the remaining players had to fight it out. $Tin$ is a paragon of resisting tilt – after winning game 1 against Donkey Kong, he took a reverse sweep. After bouncing back with a sweep over GR, he faced Stan in the finals. Game 1 went to Stan, and $Tin$ had to dig deep to pull off the reverse sweep himself. With two smart deck choices to counter his opponent, the Croatian newcomer moves on to Phase 4!

$Tin$’s PEKKA-Hog Counterattacks:

GROUP B

Now THIS is the Adam we’ve all been talking about! Adam was among the most hyped players in the world heading into Spring Season, considered the best Spell Bait player in the Milky Way. It’s fair to say his Spring Season performance was disappointing to himself and his fans, but you can see the spark it ignited in him. A sweep over Hugo followed by a skillful match against Loupanji rocketed the 6th seed in the Spring Season right back into the mix for another chance at glory.

Adam’s Spell Bait Cycle is a standard list – this archetype is the most solidified with nearly every player running identical 8 cards. Adam’s next level skill and game planning with it is what sets him apart from the pack:

After dropping to Adam in his first chance, fan favorite Loupanji from France rebounded with a game 3 victory over HugoBP. Loupanji has been winning community tournaments for well over a year now, this promotion to Phase 4 is fully deserved for the Frenchman, and he’s sure to expand his fanbase in the next stage of competition. Loupanji ran a unique Mega Knight – Balloon list that dominated a variety of decks today, but against Hugo’s Golem he mixed it up with a Bowler instead. For some reason, French players are excellent deckbuilders and Loupanji is no exception.

Loupanji’s Mega-Bowler:

GROUP C

It’s fair to call Group C the Group of Death in the European region. With Spring powerhouse Berin joining 2017 breakout player Soking and Sandstorm competitor Doberman, it was going to be tough to get out of this group. Berin and Soking, who have a bit of history from live events already, talked a bit of trash before their finals begun.

Game 1 went to Soking’s LavaLoon over Berin’s PEKKA, so he counterpunched with a Mega Knight in Game 2 over Soking’s Spell Bait. This match displayed some of the highest quality gameplay you’ll see in Clash Royale, and it came down to a single three minute game. When Soking revealed LavaLoon to Berin’s PEKKA again, many viewers thought it was a wrap. But Berin outplayed the matchup with incredible precision, landing a Lightning right before Overtime to take the game, set, match and return to Fall Season.

Berin’s PEKKA-Hog Rider

Doberman 2 – 1 Gabiro

Soking 2 – 0 Doberman

Soking holds an incredible record in live events, not cracking to pressure under the bright lights. Training with Surgical Goblin and the rest of Team Queso, he rebounded from his loss to Berin with a comfortable sweet of Doberman. Reading that Doberman loved to play ground-based decks Soking brought a PEKKA-Mega Knight control deck that crushes anything unprepared. Doberman brought a deck meant to counter Spell Bait and got stomped under Mega Knight’s leaping lunge. Soking has been a rising star and now gets to prove just how good he is in Phase 4!

Soking’s Bash Brothers:

GROUP D

None of these groups were going to cakewalks, and Spring Season finalist Royal found that out in the first match, getting swept by Loay. The Iraqi-born German player wasn’t done yet, sweeping iSlaw to be the ONLY player to make Fall Season with a 4-0 record today. A big statement heading into Phase 4, Loay clinched it with a familiar Three Musketeers list over iSlaw’s 5-legendary Control list.

In the final match of Europe’s Elimination Week tournament, infamous Spring Season finalist Royal from Romania found himself on the ropes against iSlaw of France. They traded blows back and forth, Royal maintaining his calm confidence throughout the match. In game 3 of the series, with a huge damage lead in Royal’s favor, iSlaw was able to stick a BridgeSpam rotation, finally punching through with a Bandit and Mini-PEKKA to take the tower.

Though Royal was able to bring the tower close to death, time ran out on him and iSlaw is the only player to eliminate a Spring Season competitor. We’ll be seeing iSlaw and Loay from Group D in the Fall, and Royal will have to return in Spring Season 2018 for revenge!

iSlaw’s BridgeSpam:

EUROPEAN FALL SEASON FINAL 10:

Surgical Goblin

Nemsensei

Donkey Kong

Berin

Adam

iSlaw

Loay

Loupanji

Soking

$Tin$

The twelve winners of last week’s Qualification Tournaments met with the Spring Finals competitors to determine which of those sixteen players would join Atchiin and Adrian Piedra in the Latin American Fall CCGS Season. Only half of these players would make it through today, the stakes are higher than they’ve ever been.

Group A

Group B

Group C

Group D

1

Pedro

1

Anthony

1

King Joao

1

XxDarkShadowxX

2

Pompeyo4

2

Stwart

2

~Osledy~Chacon~

2

Kodigo

3

TOMMY

3

Deadly |Ranger

3

Jesus99cr

3

Sergioramos 🙂

4

Mr. Saul

4

adriel

4

Andres

4

FERNANDA

Each group would play a Swiss style tournament, with the top 2 players advancing from each group.

GROUP A

Pedrox15 2 – 1 – 1 Pompeyo4

Mr.Saul 2 – 0 TOMMY

Pedrox15 1 – 2 Mr.Saul

Latin America got off to a crazy start with defending Spring finalist Pedro squaring off against the highly hyped Pompeyo4. Their first game went to a draw; after splitting the next two games they played a tiebreaker 4th game, where Pedro staged a comeback for the win.

Pedro himself hit a roadblock when facing newcomer Mr. Saul. Saul rocked the Giant-Miner beatdown archetype that is probably the strongest deck at punishing big investments like PEKKA or Elixir Collector. It foregoes the popular Electro Wizard for Night Witch, so if you’re looking for a strong deck for your NW, try this out:

TOMMY 1 – 2 Pompeyo4

Pedrox15 0 – 2 Pompeyo4

Pompeyo battled back to the final match – a rematch against Pedro. Only one – the Spring Season finalist or the ladder superstar – would make it through. In two games with his Mega-Loon deck, Pompeyo defeated the defending Spring player to claim his spot in the Fall!

Pompeyo4’s Mega-Loon deck works by using the MK to distract defenders while Balloon cruises to the tower. With so few defensive buildings being played, it usually flies a straight path. Miner can follow up to hold aggro, and that’s exactly what he did in Overtime to seal the game and season for the original pro player, Pompeyo4!\

GROUP B

Anthony 2 – 0 Stwart

Adriel 2 – 0 Deadly iRanger

Anthony 2 – 0 Adriel

Hailing from Mexico, Anthony was a pro player long before CCGS, and many expected big things out of him in the Spring. A fair performance kept him in the running, but he failed to live up to the hype. Practice pays off though, as a dominant 4-0 sweep of his group ensures we’ll be seeing Anthony in Phase 4.

Reminding the challengers he was a notch ahead, Anthony ran the popular PEKKA-Hog counterattacking control deck against Adriel’s Miner-Poison. This deck is the potentially the most dominant, well-rounded deck in the metagame – any new deck MUST have a gameplan to deal with it:

Deadly iRanger 0 – 2 Stwart

Adriel 2 – 0 Stwart

Group B wrapped up quickly as every match was a sweep! Adriel rebounded from his loss to Anthony with a clean sweep of Stwrt, moving on to Phase 4! The PEKKA-Hog archetype prevailed again, this time against Stwrt’s… Miner-Poison list. Guess we know what wins that matchup:

GROUP C

King Joao 2 – 0 Osledy Chacon

Andres 2 – 1 Jesus99cr

King Joao 2 – 1 – 1 Andres

The Brazilian player from Spring Season, King Joao, was not going to give up his spot in Fall without a fight. Andres took him to the absolute limit, a draw forcing a sudden death game 4. Joao fought back to take the win, using this Miner-Poison deck featuring several solid mid-sized Troops:

Jesus99cr 1 – 1 – 2 Osledy Chacon

Osledy Chacon 2 – 1 Andres

Group C is without a doubt the closest fought group, so many game 3s and 4s. This group alone had more draws than the rest of Latin American, North American, and European tournaments combined. Osledy got swept by King Joao, fought an epic 4-game set to eliminate Jesus99cr, then staved off tilt for a 3-game win over Andres.

The PEKKA-Hog Rider list he was so familiar with won the deciding game. The good thing about playing your favorite deck is it takes less of a mental toll on you near the end of a grueling tournament:

GROUP D

DarkShadow 1 – 2 Kodigo

Sergioramos 2 – 0 Fernanda

Sergioramos 2 – 1 Kodigo

A dark horse in this event, several players had picked Sergioramos to advance in their predictions. Winning 80% of his games on a quick march to Phase 4, Sergio played the fresh prince of the meta – Mega Knight. Using Hog Rider and Mega Knight as two offensive options, Sergio could go around PEKKA decks to slip in damage. Mega Knight in one lane, Hog Rider in the other would overwhelm a deck reliant on PEKKA to protect their towers:

Fernanda 2 – 1 DarkShadow

Kodigo 2 – 0 Fernanda

Spring season competitor DarkShadow was eliminated, joining xPedro15 as the Latin American players who will not be returning for the fall. Kodigo and Fernanda met in the finals to decide who would join Sergioramos in Phase 4. In the deciding game, Kodigo used a new deck that has been making waves. This deck is the first of its kind to win a CCGS Qualifer or Elimination event.

The biggest deck since TMD Yao Yao’s Golem-3M deck, this Golem-Mega Knight duo features an assortment of support Troops, and an impressively low 9 Elixir cycle for the Collector. It can pump up quickly and drop the scariest Beatdown push you’ve ever seen. Give this doozy a try on your next Grand Challenge:

LATIN AMERICAN FALL SEASON FINAL 10:

Atchiin

Adrian Piedra

Anthony

King Joao

Kodigo

Sergioramos

Pompeyo4

Adriel

Mr.Saul

Osledy Chacon

The twelve winners of last week’s Qualification Tournaments met with the Spring Finals competitors to determine which of those sixteen players would join Oxalate and CMcHugh in the North American Fall CCGS Season. Only half of these players would make it through today, the stakes are higher than they’ve ever been.

Group A

Group B

Group C

Group D

1

Rice

1

Batman

1

tin2

1

Lucifer

2

ah craaaap

2

El Jefe

2

Nova | B-rad

2

Wings

3

DiegoB

3

BernsteinCat

3

Trainer Luis

3

Lenny

4

jmonte

4

Coltonw83

4

Tag

4

MusicMaster

Each group would play a Swiss style tournament, with the top 2 players advancing from each group.

GROUP A

North America might be the most stacked field from top to bottom. Every group was a brutal collection of the continent’s top players. So many matches went to three games in every group, including a blockbuster between Rice and AhCraaaap.

Jmonte, who had come out of retirement for the 20-win challenge, was a trendy pick to win this group. Running a Three Musketeers list with a much lower Elixir average than the Minion Horde/Goblin Gang version, he was able to cycle pumps quicker than his opponents, and swept Rice’s slower Three Musketeers deck.

Nova’s AhCraaap turned 16 before Fall Season and was a major favorite to make it deep in the event. A round 1 loss to defending Spring competitor Rice put his life on the line, but he fought back against DiegoB for a rematch with Rice.

In the battle of veteran and upstart, there was only one spot left for Group A. AhCraaap rallied from his earlier loss to knock out the 3rd place finisher from Spring with this Miner Balloon deck that has been picking up in popularity as an answer to PEKKA-Hog decks, with Zap+Fireball for Three Musketeers:

GROUP B

Fans are always looking for the next big thing, and he might have just emerged from Group B. Sweeping tournament champion Coltonw83 in round 1, then disposing of El Jefe in two games. El Jefe was coming off a sweep of Batman, 4th place Spring finalist. BernsteinCat is the only player to 4-0 his group and secure a Fall season slot in dominant fashion.

BernsteinCat also ran this new slimmed down Three Musketeers list, outcycling El Jefe’s Graveyard deck that only had a Poison to counter Collector or Musketeers. Already holding a strong matchup, this tweaked list dominated the game. Riding multiple pumps to victory, BernsteinCat might be a dark horse (cat?) heading into Phase 4.

Colton capped a long journey to this moment with a heart-pounding 3-game victory against El Jefe. After dropping to Bernstein in round 1, I was nervous from thousands of miles away until he sealed his victory. After a breakout performance finishing 2nd at the inaugural King’s Cup, big things were predicted from him. After a frustrating spring where he failed to qualify for Spring’s CCGS season he considered stepping back from competitive CR. With Team Queso backing him, Colton bounced back with a win at Gamergy Masters over the summer.

Sealing his spot in Fall CCGS is the biggest win of Colton’s career, and he did it with the PEKKA shell that has been popular since the last balance chances. Opting to go with Bandit instead of Hog Rider, the faster and more versatile list pulled Colton ahead in overtime for the victory.

GROUP C

Tin2 is considered among the world’s best X-Bow players, while B-Rad is the consensus Miner God. Their series was incredibly close but B-Rad pulled it out. Another Spring sob story, B-Rad reached the Top 8 nearly every day of Qualifier week but could not punch his ticket into Round Robin phase. This season he came back with a vengeance, determined to make his mark on the world stage.

While Miner-Poison control is his preferred archetype, this Mega Knight Balloon deck with Miner as a follow-up tank was a splashy and powerful choice. B-Rad is a pro’s pro – one of the players all the other pro players can’t stop praising, so expectations are high heading into Fall CCGS.

The final match of Group C featured a crucial deck choice and mind game. Tag played LavaLoon in game 1 against Trainer Luis’ PEKKA deck. Though at a disadvantage, Luis pulled out game 1 in a nail biter. Going into Game 2, Luis correctly predicted Tag would stay on LavaLoon (after all, he had a good matchup). Running a LavaLoon list himself teched for the mirror, Tag was helpless against the Inferno Dragon variant. Luis knocked out the popular streamer and moved on to Fall from Group C.

GROUP D

In a stunning turn of events, Lucifer was unable to make the tournament – forfeiting his spot in Spring. This completed a clean sweep of the defending Spring players – meaning 8 out of 10 North American players would be new faces!

Only 8 players made the Spring season, but there was a fan vote for a 9th – Wings would have sealed it up. One of only two players to make the finals of Qualifier week twice, falling short was an immense heartbreak. This time, nothing was stopping Wings from making to the pinnacle of the game. A sweep of MusicMaster with this Electro-Wizard version of Three Musketeers starts the next chapter for this young player’s career:

MusicMaster was one of the premier players from an upstart clan called Silent Gaming in 2016. A low-key unknown clan before Hazard’s Toronto performance, the spotlight was suddenly on Silent and its players like Level99, MusicMaster, and AhCraaaap. Though

MusicMaster plays piano and violin in real life, but he played Lenny like a fiddle. Using a classic Miner-Poison variant utilizing the defensive duo of Electro Wizard and Inferno Tower to halt incoming pushes, MusicMaster set the tempo all match and rode a defensive clinic to victory.

NORTH AMERICAN FALL SEASON FINAL 10:

In a stunning turnaround, none of the Spring finalists will be returning except for Oxalate and McHugh, both of whom were given byes to this stage.